Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
by Mad Kat the Pineapple
Summary: Songfic. The sad ending of Macavity's evil gang. Song - Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Miserables. Please R & R! Rated so young kitties don't get upset by the character death.


Disclaimer - I don't own Cats or the Song. Now R and R, pretty please.

Macavity was curled up in the corner, still in shock and depression from what had happened. He hadn't been able to make a successful raid since the incident… he'd been caught twice by the flying squad. His mind kept on flickering back to what had happened… how those humans – No! He mustn't think about it. He had nobody now. The members of his gang of trickery and crime… all of them…

'_There's a grief that can't be spoken'_

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

'_There's a pain goes on and on' _

Macavity leaned on Growltiger's now empty chair, one candle remaining to burn, despite the damp smokiness of the layer. They were coming for him now, so he may as well let out his feelings before they got him too.

'_Empty Chairs at Empty Tables_

_Now my friends are dead and gone'_

He picked up one of the old, white withered candles and began picking at some of the long ago melted wax.

'_Here they talked of revolution_

_Here it was they lit the flame_

_Here they sang about tomorrow_

_And tomorrow never came…'_

The hidden paw flashed back to one afternoon long ago, long before this incident had ever been dreamed of…

_Mungojerrie and Flash in the two seats furthest from him, laughing as usual. Growltiger flirting with Griddlebone, causing her to let out on of her screech-giggles. Rumpleteazer was giggling away with Clarishta, gossiping about some stupid prank that Mungojerrie had played on the family that they had just robbed from, no doubt. They were all gathered around one large cedar table and sat on wicker chairs, initially discussing their next move in their grand plan to take over and rule the Jellicle Tribe. Old Deuteronomy was no doubt aware of this revelation, so they were treading carefully, so he was lead to believe, but he wasn't really focussing on what was going on. He was trying to sleep on the other side of the room, the heat of the blazing fire in the hearth slowly enveloping him in its relaxing crimson flame, and he was sleepily letting his yellow eyes close… _

The flashback drew to a close. A tear fell from the napoleon of crime's eye as he noticed an all too familiar item, broken over the cracked, worn cedar table.

_Rumpleteazer's Woolworth pearl necklace _

The beads were scattered, provided a little dull sparkle to the chipped wood, which had lost its varnish within days of acquiring it. He tried fitting the broken beads back onto the string, but his knarled fingers weren't used to doing such a thing. He sighed, the pieces of the necklace in his paws, sinking into what had been Griddlebone's place.

'_From the table in the corner_

_They could see a world reborn_

_And they rose with voices ringing_

_And I can hear them now!_

_The very words that they had sung_

_Became their lost communion_

_And I lonely barricaded the door…'_

That's the way it had been, if he was completely honest with himself. He sat guarding the door, keeping them in line, while they did all of the dirty work.

'_Oh my friends my friends forgive me'_

*Like they'll ever do that* he thought to himself.

'_But I live and you are gone_

_There's a grief that can't be spoken_

_There's a pain goes on and on…'_

The nerve gas that the humans had begun pumping in was beginning to take effect now. Macavity began hallucinating. Macavity was certain he could see Flash and Clarishta waving goodbye and he began to move towards them, but they faded away. He swore he could visualise Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer turning out a new bag of freshly stolen swag… but they faded away after a few moments too.

'_Phantom faces at the window_

_Phantom shadows on the floor_

_Empty chairs at empty tables_

_Where my friends will meet no more!_

_Oh my friends my friends don't ask me_

_What your sacrifice was for_

_Empty chairs at empty tables_

_Where my friends will sing no more…'_

Macavity's voice faded as he finally passed out. A few moments more exposed to nerve gas, and it finally took him. A terrible way for a creature to go. A rough hairy human hand reached in and ungraciously took the freshly dead hidden paw's body and slung it rashly in a sack. That was the brutal end to Macavity's criminal gang.

The End


End file.
